Establishment (F. Couples) vs. New Breed (G. Woodland)

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One of the themes for the 2011 PGA TOUR season is the competition involving the Establishment vs. the New Breed. How will the established players -- those with significant TOUR experience and long-standing championship pedigree -- fare against the young, hungry up-and-comers who are looking to nudge their way into the TOUR's elite?

Each week, PGATOUR.COM will select two players -- one from the New Breed and one for the Establishment -- and analyze their chances heading into the tournament. We'll then track which player has the better score for his team, and keep a running team tally throughout the year.

This week for the Shell Houston Open, we've selected Fred Couples for the Establishment and Gary Woodland for the New Breed. Couples likely will be seeing plenty of the New Breed players on his U.S. Presidents Cup team in November and Woodland, who ranks 25th right now, is definitely a candidate.

ESTABLISHMENT AGE: 51 YEARS ON TOUR: Couples played the PGA TOUR full-time for 29 years, winning 15 times, including the 1992 Masters and 1984 and '96 PLAYERS Championships. He turned 50 in October 2009 and played the bulk of his golf last year on the Champions Tour, winning four times. OVERVIEW: Few players are as established -- and beloved -- as Couples is. With his fluid swing and easygoing demeanor, Couples attracts a crowd wherever he goes. But nowhere is he as popular as he is in Houston, where he went to college and won his final PGA TOUR event in 2003. Couples, who has only played five times in 2011, is coming off a record-setting Champions Tour Rookie of the Year season. He broke Hale Irwin's marks for Scoring Average (67.96/68.59), Putting Average (1.693/1.700) and Birdie Average (5.00/4.80) -- all standards that had stood since 1998. Couples also placed second to Player of the Year Bernhard Langer in the Charles Schwab Cup race and on the money list. HISTORY IN THIS EVENT: Couples is playing in his 19th Shell Houston Open. In addition to his 2003 victory, the veteran has five other top-10 finishes. Two of those have come since the tournament moved to Redstone's Tournament Course -- a tie for fourth in 2008 and joint third in 2009 -- so don't be surprised to see Couples' name on the leaderboard again. OUTLOOK THIS WEEK: The ageless Couples has a history of playing well on courses he likes. Take the Northern Trust Open earlier this year. The two-time champ at Riviera was one stroke off the lead entering the final round but ended up finishing in a tie for seventh. Plus, he tied for fifth in his last start earlier this month at the Toshiba Classic so Couples knows he's playing well.   NEW BREED AGE: 26 YEARS ON TOUR: This is Woodland's third season on the PGA TOUR -- although the first two were shortened by a shoulder injury that required surgery. So he only played in a total of 34 events prior to this week's Shell Houston Open. OVERVIEW: His Jayhawks came up one win shy of making this week's Final Four but Woodland came to Houston as one of the game's hottest players. He picked up his first PGA TOUR win in just his 33rd start, holing a clutch, 11-footer for par on the 72nd hole at the Transitions Championship to hold off Webb Simpson, who made bogey there one group later. Two months earlier, the big-hitting Woodland showed signs that 2011 might be a breakout season when he birdied the 90th and final hole at the Bob Hope Classic to force a playoff with Bill Haas and the eventual champ, Jhonattan Vegas. That started a stretch of four top-10s in six starts that ended with the win in Tampa. HISTORY IN THIS EVENT: Woodland has only played in the Shell Houston Open once as a rookie in 2009 and he missed the cut, shooting rounds of 74-73. But he certainly comes to Redstone better prepared this week. OUTLOOK THIS WEEK: Woodland, who sits third in the FedExCup standings, ranks ninth in driving distance so he definitely can handle Redstone's 7,457 yards. But he's got much more game than just being able to swing the big bat -- Woodland ranks 24th in greens in regulation and 14th in putting average. He's confident and he could definitely be a factor this week.

Tee times

First- and second-round tee times for Couples, Woodland

Fred Couples will be playing with Matt Kuchar and Hunter Mahan in the first two rounds at Redstone GC. They will tee off No. 10 Thursday at 7:50 a.m. ET for Round 1 and go off No. 1 at 12:40 p.m. Friday. Gary Woodland will be playing with Ernie Els and Padraig Harrington. They will tee off No. 1 Thursday at 12:50 p.m. ET and off No. 10 at 8 a.m. Friday.

For all tee times, please click here

Establishment vs. New Breed: 2011 results

Here are the results of the previous matchups this year

ESTABLISHMENT Score/Finish Tournament NEW BREED Score/Finish   Steve Stricker 20 under (T-4th) Hyundai TOC Dustin Johnson 14 under (T-9th)   Ernie Els 4 under (T-42nd) Sony Open Jason Day 8 under (T-20th) Stewart Cink 5 under (MC) Bob Hope Classic Bubba Watson 7 under (MC) Davis Love III 5 over (MC) Farmers Insurance Open Rickie Fowler 5 under (T20) Angel Cabrera 7 under (T-49th) Waste Management Phoenix Jhonattan Vegas 2 under (MC)     Padraig Harrington 2 over (T63) AT&T Pebble Beach National Dustin Johnson Even (T55) Jim Furyk 1 under (T35) Northern Trust Open Louis Oosthuizen 3 over (T62)     Vijay Singh 9 over (MC) The Honda Classic Anthony Kim 7 over (MC) Luke Donald 11 under (T6) WGC-Cadillac Championship Jhonattan Vegas 2 under (T31)   Sergio Garcia 7 under (T15) Transitions Championship Matteo Manassero 6 under (T20)   Phil Mickelson 1 under (T24) Arnold Palmer Invitational Graeme McDowell 9 over (MC)